Sparring
by Sage Darkwoods
Summary: Set during Windows of Opportunity, 4.06 of Stargate: SG1. Jack and Teal'c take some time out of the unending ten hour loops, and have a few rounds in the boxing ring. In response to Scribe's phrase challenge 'I'm going to hurt you'.


**Sparring**

Set during "Windows of Opportunity," Season 4, Episode6of Stargate-SG1

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

"I am going to hurt you."

A thin line of sweat had formed on Jack's upper lip, and he swiped at it with the back of his boxing glove. "Oh yeah? Bring it, big guy."

Teal'c smiled faintly and flexed his own gloves. "I am merely telling you that there is a strong possibility I will hurt you in our sparring session. I wanted you to be prepared, O'Neill."

"Thanks for the concern," Jack snarked. "I'll have to protect my fragile bones from your huge muscles."

They began circling one another in the ring deep in the SGC base. It was one of the more fun activities they had been able to think of in the past few weeks. The SGC, as well as the Earth as a whole, and thirteen other worlds, had been trapped in a time loop. It repeated itself every ten hours. Jack was getting quite sick of eating the same bowl of Froot Loops every single loop. He himself was getting loopy. He'd had to watch Daniel go over the same arcane symbols so often he was learning the language. So, he decided to learn other things. Like reading Latin. And like juggling. Then Teal'c learned to juggle. He would have enjoyed the expression on Daniel's face when he saw both of them juggling while he was translating, if he hadn't already seen it ten times before. Suffice it to say, he was bored.

"I am confused, O'Neill," Teal'c said, tilting his head to one side. "How would my muscles attack your bones?" He flexed then, possibly an involuntary action, but Jack doubted it. The Jaffa's considerable biceps rippled. Jack thought long and hard about his decision to come down here and probably get his ass handed to him by an alien. Oh wait, that was a regular occurrence in his line of work.

He sighed. "It's an expression. Wouldja throw a punch or something, cause– " He would have finished the sentence, had his jaw not been slammed shut by an uppercut. Jack moved it side to side experimentally. "Good shot." Teal'c merely inclined his head.

They continued trading punches and circling each other in the ring. Jack tried to impress upon Teal'c the importance of footwork, but the Jaffa saw it as purposely putting oneself off-balance, thus allowing the enemy to get the upper hand. He then proceeded to give him a demonstration, knocking Jack to the floor with a strategically-placed punch and a bit of sideways momentum.

"I think that was good," Jack said, slightly winded from his newfound place on the floor. Teal'c helped him up, and they both walked over to the bench along the wall of the room. Teal'c was not breathing hard like Jack was. In fact, he had barely broken a sweat. Jack looked like he'd just run a marathon.

Teal'c passed him a water bottle. "You must drink, O'Neill. You need to rehydrate your system."

Jack took a long swig of the cool water, and poured some over his sweat-covered head. "Just call me Jack. You can, you know."

"I cannot do that, O'Neill." Teal'c's posture was ramrod straight as he patted at the minimal sweat covering his body. Jack briefly wondered if he ever slouched, just for fun.

"And why the hell not? We've been together as a team in SG1 for a long time. Going on four years in fact."

"It would not be proper," Teal'c continued, in the same level tone of voice. "You are my commanding officer."

"For crying out loud, I'm your friend, too!" Jack took another swig of the water and looked at him. "Screw proper! Come on, we've been through enough that you can call me by my first name."

"You do not call Major Carter 'Samantha'," Teal'c pointed out.

Jack's face seemed caught between a smile and a frown, and came out an uncomfortable grimace. "That's... another issue." He didn't want to say that if he started calling her 'Sam,' it might lead to other things that were not suitable for work. "Besides, she calls me 'sir' mostly."

"But you call Daniel Jackson 'Danny Boy,' and a host of other names."

"Well, that's because I think seeing Daniel peeved is pretty funny."

"So you call him names?" Teal'c turned in his seat slightly to look at Jack. "Is it a sign of affection, or of annoyance?"

Jack sighed. This was heading south, fast. "He's my friend. Like you're my friend, Teal'c. Like Carter's my friend." He picked up his towel from where it lay crumpled on the floor and mopped his brow.

Teal'c considered this, and nodded once quickly. "I should make up a name for you."

"Uh, that's not really –"

"And you should make one up for Major Carter," Teal'c continued, over Jack's protest.

Jack briefly considered the image of him calling Sam "honey bear," and her consequently trying to pull his ears off. "Probably not a good idea," he replied. "Teal'c, just... call me whatever." He wrapped the towel around the back of his neck and sighed again.

The small quirk upwards from the corners of his lips was the indication that Teal'c was amused. "Done. You are still my commanding officer, O'Neill. There are procedures and rules of propriety to be observed." He sat and stared straight ahead. "I am glad for conversations such as these, O'Neill. Our jobs do not afford us such luxuries, besides these past few weeks."

Jack leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. There was always procedure and protocol to follow; he was a career soldier. He did bend the rules on occasion, but they were always for good reasons. Like saving one's ass from the fire, sometimes literally. But there were some portions of protocol he didn't like at all. Daniel had pointed out earlier that week that they had all the time in the world right now, and could do whatever they pleased without reprisal. And here he was given a chance, a once-every-ten-hours chance, to say screw it to protocol.

"O'Neill, what are you thinking?"

The sound of Teal'c's voice broke Jack from his train of thought. "I was thinking about what was 'proper' for an officer to do. We're stuck in a damn ten-hour loop, with no chance of breaking it anytime soon."

"What are you planning to do?" Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Jack thought he rather liked doing that.

"I'm going to type up a letter of resignation." He grinned. He had been looking forward to this a long, long time. "It wouldn't be 'proper' for me as a commanding officer to do what I'm about to do without resigning first."

Teal'c looked puzzled a moment, then both eyebrows shot upwards. "Would this have anything to do with Major Carter?"

Jack only grinned in response, and grabbed his towel before leaving the gym.


End file.
